Clarence E. Stewart

Company A 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

4th Infantry Division

KIA 06/08/1944

Clarence E. Stewart was born in Covington County, Mississippi on November 16, 1919.
His religion was listed as Protestant.

He was drafted into the Army on May 15, 1942 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. His home of residence
was listed as Covington County, Mississippi and his civilian occupation was listed as General farmers.
He had completed one year of High School and was single with no dependents.

The date of his assignment to the 22nd Infantry is unknown but he was with the Regiment
at least by December 1942 as his name is listed in a Company roster on a menu for the
Christmas Dinner of Company A 22nd Infantry at Camp Gordon, Georgia in December 1942. *

He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal as a Private First Class in Headquarters 22nd Infantry
General Orders No. 5 dated June 8, 1943 at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

Private First Class Stewart was listed as missing in action on June 8, 1944, during 1st Battalion's attack
against the fortified German battery at Crisbecq. A later inscription in the Morning Reports next to his missing
in action entry indicated that he was Killed In Action. His family was notified by the War Department
that he died in a hospital on June 17, 1944. If that notification is accurate then he would have died
in one of the evacuation hospitals set up in Normandy to process American wounded and killed.

Decorations of Clarence E. Stewart

"He was a poor farm boy from Collins, Mississippi. His father had lost the family’s
savings and property before the great depression due to a local bank failing and a horrific agriculture year.
The family was struggling and he was very much a product of that. He had attended the CCC program at Camp
Shelby south of Hattiesburg, MS. And his insurance money brought his family land and stability. I am sad that
he never married, had children and grandchildren. One of my cousins owns a restaurant in Collins, MS and has
his uniform displayed and the flag that draped his coffin."

Clarence was known to his family by his nickname "Joe."

-- Ashley Skellie great-grandniece of Clarence E. Stewart

Clarence E. Stewart was originally buried in the temporary military
cemetery Ste. Mere-Eglise #1 in Carentan, France. His remains
were later brought back to the United States and interred in Mississippi,
in the 1947-1949 time frame, when the cemeteries at Ste. Mere-Eglise were closed
and all the servicemen buried there were relocated. The date of the application
for his headstone/marker is October 1948.

Left: the grave of PFC Clarence E. Stewart
in the Ste. Mere-Eglise #1 cemetery in Normandy.
Photo taken by Clarence's first cousin,
who was also his best friend. Clarence's cousin was
also in the Normandy invasion, and while on leave took
this photo to give to Clarence's mother and father.

Photo courtesy of Ashley Skellie

Burial:
Cold Springs Cemetery
Collins
Covington County
Mississippi, USA

Grave marker for Clarence E. Stewart
The marker shows an incorrect date of birth.

Photo by Robert E. Lee from the Find A Grave website

Clarence E. Stewart's photo on his grave marker

Photo by Robert E. Lee from the Find A Grave website

* Courtesy of Julien Woestyn

Top photo by Ashley Skellie great-grandniece of Clarence E. Stewart

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